Curb and drain unit

ABSTRACT

A curb and drain unit for roads which being installed on the both sides and/or the central reserve of highways or any other roads to prevent the automobile from running off the road and to drain water and slops from the road, and consisting of an upper curb portion to receive the tire of an automobile and a lower hollow portion for the drainage. Said curb portion of the unit is, in practice, provided by forming an inclined front face or a projected face on the upper half of said unit, and said drain is provided on the lower half of said unit to form a passage for drainage.

United States Patent [1 1 Ito [ Jan. 29, 1974 CURB AND DRAIN UNIT [76] Inventor: Sinzo Ito, 359 Kayigaya-cho,

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 31, 1971 Japan 46/3872 [52] US. Cl. 404/4 [51] Int. Cl. E0lc 11/22 [58] Field of Search 94/31, 31 E, 32; 285/226, 227, 285/228, 229

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,786,642 12/1930 Boyden 285/226 X 3,459,444 8/1969 Rofe 285/226 1,073,669 9/1913 Fargo 94/31 X 1,656,653 1/1928 Von Keller 94/31.1 332,761 12/1885 Taylor 94/32 X 533,130 l/l895 Kingsley 94/31 632,973 9/1899 Spring 94/31 X 993,244 5/1911 Hansbrough. 94/31 1,881,376 10/1932 Hunter 94/31 848,075 3/1907 Wainwright... 94/32 X 2,471,226 5/1949 Maccario 94/31 802,772 10/1905 McCoy 94/31 X Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John J. McGlew [5 7] ABSTRACT A curb and drain unit for roads which being installed on the both sides and/or the central reserve of high ways or any other roads to prevent the automobile from running off the road and to drain water and slops from the road, and consisting of an upper curb portion to receive the tire of an automobile and a lower hollow portion for the drainage. Said curb portion of the unit is, in practice, provided by forming an inclined front face or a projected face on the upper half of said unit, and said drain is provided on the lower half of said unit to form a passage for drainage.

4 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures CURB AND DRAIN UNIT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the ordinary overhead roads, the shoulders of the roads are provided with guardrails or fences to prevent automobiles from running off the roads, and the centaral portions of the roads are provided with central reserves to check the running over of the automobiles.

Further, in these roads, drainages are also provided to discharge water on the roads therethrough, at a great deal of costs and time, because if water remains on the road, it is very dangerous for the automobile traffic.

Therefore, the labour, time and costs for such facilities are indispensable for the construction of the road, and further the available area of the road is somewhat restricted by the provision for such drainage.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a novel construction unit which can be used as the curb for the road as well as the drainage for the road with a compact and simple structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEDRAWINGS These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is front elevation of the first embodiment of the present invention, in which a projected portion is formed as a curb in the upper half of the unit for receiving tires of cars and the lower half of said unit being formed as a drain;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of the unit which is taken along the line I I-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation ofthe second embodiment of the invention, in which the front face of the upper half of said unit is an inclined surface as a curb and the lower half of the unit is formed as a drain;

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation of the unit of the second embodiment which is taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG, 5 is a plan view of the third embodiment, a water gathering unit of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of said third embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a sectional elevation of said third embodiment which is taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional elevation of the fourth embodiment of the invention having a similar configuration as the first embodiment, in which the cirb portion of the upper half can be detached from the lower drain portion;

FIG. 9 is also a sectional elevation of the fifth embodiment ofthe invention having the similar configuration as the second embodiment, in which the upper curb portion can be detached from the lower drain portion;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a joint which can be used for each of the above-described units;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation of said joint;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of said joint which is taken along the line XII-XII in FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a partially cross sectional perspective view of a road, in which the units of the first embodiments are aligned on the shoulder of the road; and

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the connected units, in which the units of the fourth embodiments are joined with the rubber joint as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 in place of the attached joints.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, the detailed explanation of the unit of the present invention will be given in the following.

The first embodiment of the unit of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The front face of the upper portion of the unit is formed a projected portion which is used for the curb (kurb) of the road to receive the tire of an automobile, and the front face of the lower half ofthe unit is also projected to form a drain portion.

In the drawing, the numeral 1 denoted the unit of the invention consisting of a hollow body, the front face of the upper portion of the unit 1 is projected to form a curb portion 1, and the front face of the lower portion of the unit 1 is also projected to form a drain portion 3 which is used as the passage for the gathered water. On the upper horizontal surface of said drain portion 3 and on the continued vertical wall, a water grating 4 is provided, and reinforcing plates 5 fitted in said curb portion 2.

The one end of this unit 1 is provided with a joint 6 to interconnect with the end of another unit.

The unit 1 having the above described structure, in case it is made of metal, is provided with anchor rods 9, 9 on its back side wall 7 and the bottom 8.

A plurality of these units can be aligned on a straight line as shown in FIG. 13 by connecting the ends of the units with each other by means of the joints 6.

As shown in FIGv 13, thus constructed unit 1 can be fixed to the iron frame 62 of the overhead road 61, wherein the anchor rods 9 are welded tightly to the frame 62.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the second embodiment of the unit of the invention will be explained in the following.

In place of the projected curb portion 2 of the first embodiment, an inclined surface is formed on the front upper portion of the unit to serve as a curb for the road receiving the tire of an automobile and the lower half of the unit is used as the drain portion of the unit.

The numeral 11 indicates a hollow body for the unit as similar as that in the first embodiment, the front face of the upper portion of the unit 11 is provided with an inclined surface 12 to serve as the curb for the road, and the lower half of the unit 11. Reinforcing plates 15 are fixed into the upper of the unit 11 and a joint 16 is provided at one end of the unit 11 to connect the end of another unit with each other.

In case this unit 11 is made of metal, anchor rods l9, 19 are welded onto the back side wall 17 and the bottom 18, respectively.

This unit can be aligned to form a long connection by the same method as that in the preceding first embodiment and also it can be installed to the overhead road 61 by being anchored to the iron frame 62.

Next, the third embodiment of the unit of the invention will be explained in accordance with FIGSv 5, 6 and 7.

This unit is used as an intermediate unit between the units of the second embodiment, which serves as a curb and as water gathering unit.

The numeral 21 indicates a unit consisting of a hollow body, an inclined surface 22 is formed on the upper 3 portion of the unit 21 which serves as the curb of the road, and the lower half of the unit 21 is used as the drain portion 23.

The numerals 30, are the folded portions of the curb portion 32 which are supported by the supports 30, 30 being fixed on the inside of the drain portion 33. Thus fitting the folded portions 30, 30 into the supports 30', 30', the curb portion 32 can be incorporated in one body with the drain portion 33.

The fifth embodiment of the unit is shown in FIG. 9, in which the curb portion and the drain portion with the similar configurations as those of the second embodiment, are made detachable.

The numeral 41 is a unit consisting of a curb portion 42 and a drain portion 43, and the former curb portion 42 can be easily removed from the latter drain portion 43. Plugs 40, are provided on the underside of the periphery of the curb portion 42, which are received into the sockets 40, 40' being fixed on the inside wall of the drain portion 43 to form one integral body.

Thus constructed units of the fourth and fifth embodiments can be connected with each other in great numbers in similar manner as those of the first, second and third embodiments,'further they can be fitted to the overhead roads.

In the drawings, the numerals 35 and 45 are reinforcing plates, 37 and 47 are back side walls of the units, 38 and 48 are the bottoms of the units, and 39, 39, 49, and 49 are all anchor rods.

Though the grating and joint are not shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, they may be provided to the units, of course.

The curb and drain unit of the present invention as shown in the above as first to fifth embodiments can be installed on the shoulders and/or central reserves of the roads, thereby preventing the automobile from running off the road and discharging water from the road through the grating into the drain portion ofthe aligned units.

The next embodiment as shown in FIG. 10, l1 and 12 is an expansion joint, which is used at the expansion joint of a bridge etc.

The numeral 50 is a rubber made joint which consists of margins 51, SI and a joint body 52. The joint body 52 has front margins 53, bottom margins 54, rear margins 55 and bellows 56, 57 and 58, and when it is observed from the side, the configuration of the joint 50 is like a fish hook as shown in FIG. 11. The rubberjoint 50 having such structure can be fitted to, for example, the unit 31 in the manner as shown in FIG. 14, wherein the margins 53, 54 and 55 are adhered onto the outer sides of the front, bottom and rear side surfaces of the curb and drain unit 31. The units shown in FIG. 14 are ofthe fourth embodiment, however without saying, the units may be those ofother embodiments, such as first, second, third and fifth ones.

This rubber joint 50 is conveniently employed for bridges, however, it can be used also for the waterway through a rice-field.

When this joint is used, the water in the drain passage of the unit is never caused to leak.

As explained in the above, the curb and drain unit of the present invention using a hollow body which consists ofthe upper curb portion and the lower drain portion, can be fitted to the both sides or on the central reserve of the road, and serves as the curb for the road to prevent the automobile from running off the road, and at the same time, serves as the drain to discharge the water on the road, therefore the traffic safety of the road, even on a rainy day, can be enhanced. Further, the unit of the present invention can be used for a road passing through a tunnel.- And further, the unit of the present invention can be made of synthetic plastics, and the unit can be fitted to the road without using the anchor rods only by the drain portion being buried in the road.

It should be emphasized, however, that the specific embodiments described and shown herein are intended as merely illustrative and in no way restrictive ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Combination curb and sewer drain comprising a tubular member having an indented intermediate face portion and an outwardly extending bottom portion, the lower part of said bottom portion being adapted to fit into the ground, said bottom portion having at least one opening therein for admitting fluid into the bottom portion of said tubular member; said tubular member having anchored means for securing the bottom portion of said tubular member to the ground, one end of said tubular member having a recessed portion and the other end of said tubular member having an engagement flange adapted to engage the recessed portion of the other end of a second similar tubular member, at least one end of said drain having a flexible joint member which engages said end wherein at least a portion of said flexible joint member is bellows-shaped.

2. Combination curb and sewer drain according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate face portion of said tubular member is detachably connected to'the bottom portion of said tubular member.

3. Roadway construction having a combination curb and drain unit along at least one side of the length of the right of way thereof, said drain unit comprising a tubular member having an indented intermediate face portion and an outwardly extending bottom portion, the lower part of said bottom portion being adapted to fit into the ground, said bottom portion having at least one opening therein for admitting fluid into the bottom portion of said tubular member; said tubular member having anchoring means for securing the bottom portion of said tubular member to the ground, one end of said tubular member having a recessed portion and the other end of said tubular having an engagement flange adapted to engage the recessed portion of the other end ofa second similar'tubu'lar member at least one end of said drain having a flexible joint member which engages said end wherein at least a portion of said flexible joint member is bellowsshaped.

4. Roadway construction according to claim 3, wherein the intermediate face portion of said tubular member is detachably connected to the bottom portion 

1. Combination curb and sewer drain comprising a tubular member having an indented intermediate face portion and an outwardly extending bottom portion, the lower part of said bottom portion being adapted to fit into the ground, said bottom portion having at least one opening therein for admitting fluiD into the bottom portion of said tubular member; said tubular member having anchored means for securing the bottom portion of said tubular member to the ground, one end of said tubular member having a recessed portion and the other end of said tubular member having an engagement flange adapted to engage the recessed portion of the other end of a second similar tubular member, at least one end of said drain having a flexible joint member which engages said end wherein at least a portion of said flexible joint member is bellows-shaped.
 2. Combination curb and sewer drain according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate face portion of said tubular member is detachably connected to the bottom portion of said tubular member.
 3. Roadway construction having a combination curb and drain unit along at least one side of the length of the right of way thereof, said drain unit comprising a tubular member having an indented intermediate face portion and an outwardly extending bottom portion, the lower part of said bottom portion being adapted to fit into the ground, said bottom portion having at least one opening therein for admitting fluid into the bottom portion of said tubular member; said tubular member having anchoring means for securing the bottom portion of said tubular member to the ground, one end of said tubular member having a recessed portion and the other end of said tubular having an engagement flange adapted to engage the recessed portion of the other end of a second similar tubular member at least one end of said drain having a flexible joint member which engages said end wherein at least a portion of said flexible joint member is bellows-shaped.
 4. Roadway construction according to claim 3, wherein the intermediate face portion of said tubular member is detachably connected to the bottom portion of said tubular member. 